


The Dark of the Night

by thetransgirlwhoneverwas



Series: Fictober 2020 [15]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:20:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27048613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetransgirlwhoneverwas/pseuds/thetransgirlwhoneverwas
Summary: Aqua is trapped in the Realm of Darkness, fighting against creatures of pure malevolence, and fighting against the very nature of the Realm itself to survive.
Series: Fictober 2020 [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952200





	The Dark of the Night

The creature slashed at Aqua, and she just got out of the way. It wasn’t one she had seen before - or was it? She couldn’t get a good look at it, even when she saw it directly its very appearance seemed to disappear from her mind in a second. Another giant claw came at her, from nowhere, and she just managed to deflect it. She tried to jump backwards, make some distance, take stock of her foe, but she couldn’t. She jumped, she moved back, but her surroundings didn’t move around her. This wasn’t anything she had seen before, but she wasn’t surprised: the Realm of Darkness never ceased to put her in a bad situation.

Another attack came at her and she managed to duck out of the way, but the ground beneath her started to shift and she lost her balance. She managed to steady herself, but not in enough time as yet another giant claw emerged from the darkness and struck her, clawing across her and pulling her off her feet, sending her sprawling. She picked herself up, and tried to summon her Keyblade back to her hand, but it wouldn’t appear. No matter how hard she focused, it wouldn’t come. This wasn’t anything she had seen before, but she wasn’t surprised: the Realm of Darkness never ceased to put her in a bad situation.

She ran, but hardly seemed to move in the pervasive, oppressive darkness. The creature attacked again, but she avoided it -

She was hit again, from behind.

“Two of them?” she panicked, unsure on how to take on two of them without her Keyblade, but then she heard more sounds behind her, more snarling and growling. She looked, and there were more approaching. She tried to move, find an exit, but she couldn’t, her legs wouldn’t move. They were all around her now, there was nowhere to run, she couldn’t fight without her weapon, she couldn’t even move to try to avoid them, they pounced, ready to kill her, and suddenly she was falling, falling into the darkness, the eternal darkness that would consume and destroy her until there was nothing left and nobody would ever even remember her-

“Aqua!”

She still felt herself falling as she turned in her bed towards the sound, but it faded. She wasn’t falling. She wasn’t being attacked. She wasn’t even in the Realm of Darkness. She hadn’t been for months. But still, so many nights, even though she was safe in the Land of Departure, in her mind, in her dreams, she was back. Trapped. Hunted. Alone.

“Aqua,” again, but a different voice. Aqua looked up. Who else, but Terra, with Ventus standing beside him.”

“Are you okay?” Ventus asked, crouching down by her bed. “You were...well, you were screaming.”

“I...sorry,” Aqua shook her head. “Sorry I woke you up. Both of you.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” Terra replied, just as calm as before. Terra hadn’t really been known for his level-headedness before, but they had all changed in the past years.

Ventus found Aqua’s hand and held it in his own, gripping it loosely enough that it wasn’t uncomfortable, but tight enough to be reassuring. “It’s okay. We’re here. You’re safe.”

Aqua sat up, swung her feet over the edge of her bed, and hugged Ventus. Terra knelt down and Aqua hugged him too.

“Thank you.”


End file.
